THE STOCK AND WALLFLOWER. 
235 
seed of others, bought seed, and, before we had 
quite made up our mind upon the matter, 
grown one single among fifty double ; but 
we can safely say that, out of thousands, 
perhaps millions, raised from year to year, for 
more than twenty years, we never obtained a 
dozen double ones. On the contrary, we have 
grown some of the biennial kinds of Stocks, 
and twice in our time we have totally lost a 
sort for want of seed, the entire number 
coming double. Much has been said and 
written about change of soil and selection, yet 
we have grown ourselves, year after year, the 
finest Stocks, and never found them degenerate, 
unless it be decided that double Stocks are 
degenerate varieties. Many persons are famed 
for a particular kind of Stock, grown many 
years running on the same soil, but always 
proving good, if it be allowed that double 
Stocks are good. To go back, however, to our 
favourite Stock, we will begin with the ten- 
week, or any other of the annual kinds, from 
the sowing of the seed to maturing the 
plants. 
SOWING THE SEED. 
Choosing rather to begin with autumn 
sowing for the purpose of obtaining early 
spring blooms, we will sow the annual Stock 
in seed pans or boxes for a small quantity, or 
a one-light box or more for a large quantity. 
Take peat and loam for the soil, level the top, 
and sow the seed very thinly; for crowding 
seedlings is bad, and drawing some out when 
too thick only disturbs the others. Sift a 
little fine mould over the seeds, to cover them 
and no more, and the months we should choose 
for this would be August and September, part 
in each month. Keep them under the glass; 
for if they are sown in pots this should be 
attended to. When they are up they should 
be protected from the heat of the mid-day 
sun. Refresh them with water to prevent 
them flagging, and in a few weeks they will 
have six leaves. Fill forty-eight sized pots 
with half loam and half peat, and put three or 
four in a pot within an inch of each other, 
near the centre of the pot. The object of this 
is, as already explained, to be able to draw 
out the two weaker of the lot, to leave either 
only one or two, as soon as they indicate their 
single or double quality ; because, when all 
are pretty near the centre, a single one left 
will do, and two will not be much worse. 
These pots must be put into a frame and 
covered up as winter approaches : fill up the 
frame, or sink it so that the plants may be near 
the glass. The frost must be kept from them 
by covering up, and not by any heat artificially 
given. They will grow all the winter; and 
very early in the spring, it will be seen 
whether they will come double or single. As 
soon as this can be ascertained, carefully 
remove the single ones, and well water the 
others, which can hardly be too much pushed 
on for your early bloom. The pots should 
stand on a dry bottom ; for wet, or even a 
defective drainage, will greatly weaken them. 
BEDDING OUT. 
By the beginning of May they will com- 
mence developing their flowers, and whether 
to be kept in pots, or planted out in beds, they 
will do well. If they are to be put out into 
beds, the balls of earth must be turned out 
whole, so that the plants shall not suffer from 
removal. Water them in so as to close the 
earth about the balls ; place them nine inches 
apart in the beds, or see that they have plenty 
of room in the borders ; for on the room they 
have, presuming the soil to be good, depends 
entirely the future welfare of the plants, and 
the strength and size of the blooms. If they 
are intended to bloom well in the pots, reduce 
the number to two, or even one each, and shift 
the ball of earth into twenty-fours, or thirty- 
twos, keeping the plants as much as possible 
in the middle, which can be done by repotting 
the ball rather on one side, so as to throw the 
Stocks in the centre. Keep to the same loam 
and peat, though even the ordinary garden 
soil will grow Stocks; for the loam and peat 
bring them in greater perfection and finer 
colour. In the spring sowings nearly all the 
same observations apply, and they may be put 
out the end of May, the end of June, and the 
end of July, to succeed each other ; for Stocks, 
although some time in perfection, lose their 
colour after the main spikes have bloomed, 
and are soon the worse for it. The bloom of 
Stocks may be prolonged by cutting away the 
decaying flowers, for it induces side-shoots; 
but still the flowers get speckled, ragged, and 
undefined. If they are sown in a hot-bed in 
spring, they come nearly as forward as those 
kept over the winter, but rarely so handsome. 
The best way is to sow them under a light, 
but not in heat, to cover them from heavy 
rain. Shade them while young from the heat 
of the sun; and, when they are large enough, 
plant them from the frame into the places 
they are to grow in: they are later, but, upon 
the whole, stronger and finer, than when too 
much nursed. In this case they may be sown 
any time after the beginning of April; so 
may the annual Stocks be sown in the open 
ground, on a border of good earth, and any 
time in April : they will not come up until 
they can bear all the weather. Some persons 
have been in the habit of sowing the ten-week 
Stocks, broad cast, in the bed they are to grow 
in, and, when they become large enough, 
drawing them out, to thin them to nine inches 
or a foot apart. The objections to this are, 
that the Stocks are not left in even rows; for 
